Frankie Ward is an esports icon

It’s a warm summer’s day in south London and legendary esports host Frankie Ward is crouched in her garden, posing for a photoshoot. In her usual line of work, Ward addresses packed arenas and millions of fans. But today, she’s more interested in pointing out rose bushes that need deadheading.

“This spot used to have hemlock,” says Ward, indicating the only bare patch of soil in her garden, where no trace of the poisonous plant remains. “It was like something out of Little Shop of Horrors!” she adds, referencing the hit musical’s villainous, fast-growing weed.

Gardening is a passion of Ward’s that’s never shown on-camera. When she’s working, Ward fronts some of the biggest gaming events in the world – such as the latest League Of Legends Mid-Season Invitational, which peaked at 2.2 million viewers when it was held in London earlier this year. She’s also helmed numerous high-profile Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournaments, along with the annual PC Gaming Show. After a meteoric rise, Ward has become one of the most recognisable presenters in gaming – though her life almost played out very differently.

“If I see something that can be better, I try to see if I can make it better”

Ward was born where she now lives, in south London. As a child, it wasn’t consoles she obsessed over but ancient history. She was desperate to be an egyptologist. Instead, her mum – perhaps spotting some early glimmer of creative talent – encouraged her to be an actor. At 18, she was packed off to Birmingham University to study Drama Theatre Arts. It was the student radio station that captured her imagination though, not Shakespeare. She fell in with the uni’s radio club, Burn FM, and was given a regular slot for which she roamed Birmingham with a “shitty £20 dictaphone” in search of bands to interview. Despite dire listening figures, Ward never lost motivation: “I just didn’t tell Bombay Bicycle Club that their interview would never be heard!”

Ward’s hard work eventually paid off, and she snagged a digital producer internship at the BBC. That became a full-time job, which occasionally saw her covering on-camera duties – something she had avoided in Birmingham, but now discovered was a strength. “I realised that sometimes, the stories you tell can be more personal, more interesting,” she says, “when you’re also in the frame.”

If you’ve seen Ward in full flow, you’ll know she makes appearing on-camera look effortless – even when it’s not. During her NME shoot today, it is hot and sweaty. But Ward poses for the photographer without complaint, still finding time for tales of rampant shrubs and misplaced wallflowers. She flits between set-ups effortlessly, meaning we’re able to move the interview to a shady beer garden (and some cold drinks) much sooner than expected. Away from the flashing lens, Ward opens up. She says she’s always been confident but used to worry about being judged for it.

“One of the things I had to get beyond was worrying what people thought of me,” she says. “I was told [by a BBC coworker] that my personality was too much, and I needed to be ‘less me’. But my personality in interviews gets more out of people. If I’m the butt of the joke, [it can help them feel more] comfortable… so when something like that’s said to me, it’s my worst nightmare because I’m just like, ‘oh great – people will think I’m an egotist.’”

Ward’s next step proved that person was very wrong. At 26, she produced the BBC’s first esports coverage: 2015’s League Of Legends World Championship, a global tournament for a popular multiplayer game where two teams of five compete to destroy their opponents’ base. League Of Legends can be notoriously difficult – and at London’s 12,500 capacity Wembley Arena, the best of the best were competing.

“Because League was doing this event of ‘national significance’ we had an excuse to [cover] it,” she says, grinning. While there, she took the opportunity to immerse herself in the game’s “ecstatic” community. It was intoxicating – from a single esports event, Ward was hooked.

“The stories you tell can be more personal, more interesting, when you’re also in the frame”

She left the BBC and decided to dive into games full-time for Twitch, the biggest streaming platform for gaming. Though much of her producer job was behind-the-scenes, Ward occasionally stepped in as a temporary host. In 2017, a messy encounter with superstar DJ Steve Aoki led her to take up hosting full time.

“I was running a stage at Gamescom in 2017, and Steve Aoki came to play [superhero fighting game] Injustice 2,” Ward says. “But Aoki has a thing where he ‘cakes’ people on stage…”

Sure enough, Aoki was planning a sweet-toothed surprise. Minutes before the curtain rose, he approached Ward and told her there was a problem. “He just looked at me and said… ‘It’s the wrong kind of cake’,” Ward remembers. “‘This kind won’t crumble properly.’” He was wrong. “That cake crumbled all over the fucking stage! There was icing everywhere. I was on my hands and knees trying to get rid of it, and I ended up with pink buttercream on my arse.”

When the floor was clean, Ward was interviewed by Ginx TV, a gaming site that was ran a segment on Gamescom. Though Ward was still covered in icing, Ginx TV recognised her onscreen charisma and asked if she’d like to co-host its esports talkshow ‘The Bridge’. She accepted.

Fast-forward five years, and there are few gaming scenes that Ward hasn’t appeared in. She’s a mainstay on the annual PC Gaming Show, which brings in millions of viewers every summer. She’s also a co-presenter for GamesMaster, E4’s revival of the popular TV show from the 1990s. And if that isn’t enough, she hosted 2023’s BAFTA Games Awards, the UK industry’s most prestigious event. Ward hasn’t just stuck the landing: she’s become one of the most diverse, charismatic figures in gaming.

For the most part, Ward’s made it look easy. Yet she’s had to overcome a lot during her rise. Beyond the usual challenges of breaking into a new industry, there have been toxic work environments, social media struggles and battles to “prove” she can still perform after becoming a first-time mother in 2021. “I wanted the industry to be welcoming when I joined,” she says, “but it didn’t always feel like it was.” She continues to feel strongly about uplifting the spaces she operates in. That could be by improving the quality of broadcast or in creating a friendlier atmosphere. “If I see something that can be better, I try to see if I can make it better.”

It’s an ongoing battle, but Ward thinks progress has been made. Ward points to several tournaments she’s worked at where spots have been opened up for more women to get involved. She also does her best to nudge any employer in the right direction: “I try to say there’s space for more people on [broadcast] lineups without replacing anyone.” Yet there is always room for improvement, and some recent developments within esports are concerning.

Saudi Arabia, which often receives criticism for its poor human rights record, has long been accused of sportswashing – the act of laundering a controversial reputation by pouring money into sports. In 2020, the country invested in the League Of Legends European Championship (LEC) along with esports tournament organiser BLAST.

While those partnerships were ultimately shut down following pressure from fans and broadcast talent including Ward, last year Savvy Gaming Group – an investment company backed by the Saudi Arabian government – purchased ESL Gaming and FACEIT, two of the largest esports organisers in the world. Ward, who has worked with both groups, says the billion-pound acquisition was carried out behind closed doors – and by the time it was made public, the sale had already gone through.

Ward, whose name is obviously closely associated with the esports brand and who often speaks out in favour of inclusivity in the industry, learned of the acquisition at the same time as everyone else. She was taking care of her baby daughter when her phone suddenly blew up. The messages, she says, ranged from fans labeling her a hypocrite to outright “abuse” from trolls, who seized the opportunity to pile on.

As a response, Ward wrote a blog saying she was “heartbroken” by the move, and became one of ESL’s first presenters to speak out against the deal. It opened her up to yet more abuse. Esports fans piled on to question her stance, calling out her time on the 2019 BLAST Pro Series in Bahrain, an event she says she regrets doing, along with her role in hosting a Saudi-owned charity event in 2020, which she accepted when COVID caused “all of [her] work” to vanish.

Due to the acquisition, Ward turned down “a lot” of events, but realised that continuing to do so would result in being locked out of Counter-Strike entirely due to ESL and FACEIT organising the lion’s share of events. After suffering from postpartum depression in 2022, Ward took a much-needed break from hosting before returning to work with ESL for its all-women Impact circuit, which champions underrepresented and LGBTQIA+ members.

“You can’t work in the industry unless you are a part of that system,” she says. “That’s something I have been struggling with over the last year and a half, it’s been phenomenally hard. You can’t be in the industry unless you work with it, but then what does that mean? I can’t reach the people I currently reach unless I’m there.”

Reconciling her objections with the good her platform allows her to do is something that Ward continues to struggle with. “It’s awful,” she starts to say, choking up. When she speaks again, there are tears running down her face. “I feel like I’ve let so many people down. I really want to celebrate Pride and speak out for trans people because every time you go on Twitter, there’s some idiot being awful. But I also know that I’m part of the problem.”

Ward says that while most people are understanding of her position, social media can be “suffocating” at times. Despite what critics say, she has paid for her stance: “I knew when I spoke out against [the acquisition], I probably wouldn’t get to do Counter-Strike BLAST [events] ever again – and I haven’t,” she admits. “But all of the men who spoke about it are fine and working for those companies – I’m the only one [who isn’t].”

Additionally, Ward says there are friends she hasn’t seen in years because she “hasn’t been able” to return to the projects they collaborated on. Ward also worries that she may be further shut out if she continues to criticise certain owners. “I’m an interviewer and a very empathic person,” says Ward, ”so I think about it a lot.”

Ultimately, Ward still loves what she does – and knows she’s good at it. She’s planning to take time out for an “evaluation” this year, which will help her decide what move to make next. She says she’s looking for a broadcaster to work with longer-term, along with wider gaming opportunities and more UK-based events so that she can spend time with her daughter. Whatever the future holds, we think back to Ward’s garden and the bare patch of soil where hemlock once stood: an opportunity for something new to flourish.

Frankie Ward is on Twitter at @FrankieWard

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